Lieberman-Warner has been stopped way short of the finish line, and this provides us with an opportunity to look at how, and if, the Lieberman-Warner bill, and the coalition surrounding it, is effective. Did the people come together and throw their collective support behind L-W? Was the public outcry against the pro-coal politicians so loud that it could not be ignored? Did even its most ardent supporters realistically think this bill would pass? No. Perhaps the time has come to stop treating our climate bills as a roadmap about where to go next, and actually look at where the country is and see where our people stand, and help build this into real, actionable, cohesive legislation.
As studies have shown time and again, Americans are highly motivated and show broad support for achieving energy independence, and are incredibly receptive of and confident in large scale investment in accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy and infrastructure. This is partially because of America’s priorities in terms of tackling problems that face the country, and also because a solution like investment in energy independence lines up with where Americans feel our strengths as a nation lie. Investment in new areas of research and implementation relies on American ingenuity, a quality that many Americans believe is our best means of overcoming any crisis facing our country. For reasons of national and economic security, energy independence is widely supported issue amongst the American people. In addition, Energy independence has proven to be much more important to the American people than global warming action. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Adam Zemel 
